After some of our convos here I was thinking it’d be nice to have some sort of patternmaker directory so that someone can google, find us and see what kind of software/specialization we have.
I think it’d be great too, to connect with more of you out there, I know so few patternmakers, we are a rare breed these days.
I’m open to ideas- we can chat about it on this thread if any of you have any thoughts on the matter.
Do you think this would be enough different from using LinkedIn? Sometimes I don’t love LinkedIn, for one, because if you click on someone’s profile they get notified that you did, which is so creepy and
weird to me.
I also feel like LinkedIn really only makes us available to recruiters but isn’t as helpful in finding those smaller, but often more enjoyable gigs.
If you’re interested, maybe in the spirit of anonymity on this website, don’t publish your info here. But if it seems like some of you are interested, we can connect via private message.
I think The Schmatte would be a great tool for your Pattern Maker directory idea. If you can get a lot of pattern makers to create profiles, I can make a special heading that all of the Pattern Maker message strings would be under.
Happy to be a part of it, but it it’s hosted here, we’d have to figure out how to have it disattached from our Schmatte usernames. I value my ability to be frank in this forum.
mmm, yes, that’s a great point! Yes, I was imagining some very basic website so it could be googled easily if someone was looking, although there is always the issue of privacy, I don’t necessarily want to publish all my info for the world to find! Maybe just email addresses, first names and areas of expertise/software used if it were public.
If the directory was to be hosted here, it could still be anonymous but might include our areas of expertise/software us? And then if someone was wanting to work with us they can send a private message.
We could make a CATEGORY that reads PATTERN MAKER DIRECTORY (see the left hand column below) and the individual pattern makers could make a personal post regarding their specialties and tech knowledge under that category. -just a thought
I’m still F/T (but 4 days a week, remote) and then I’ve been doing a lot of freelance on the side. My plan is to move into freelance on a full time basis at some point, but slowly working my way there and trying to build up clients / learn how to price things so I can actually afford to live etc.
It’s not easy but definitely more enjoyable work, I have learned WAY more doing freelance than I have learned at a F/T job in a while. My experience is that many F/T jobs specifically want me not to grow and learn because it comes off as a threat to upper level people. It’s so weird to me (or maybe not, but such a waste of human resources). Have you experienced this?
Your way sounds like a smart move. I had been laid off and someone I knew was looking for P/T grading help and since I had severance I could afford the software. I started with that and am constantly on the lookout for new clients.
It can feel much less stable, sometimes I miss employer paid healthcare and 401K and sick/vacation days. I don’t miss working in an open office with all the distractions that can bring. I am much better at my job when I have the time and space to do it without having to listen to everything that everyone else is doing. I have definitely experienced positions where there was no way to grow and learn, I didn’t stay with those long. I am the type of person who needs to be learning, or I get bored. I have been able to learn new programs in my down time, and I don’t have to wait for approval from anyone
Yes, very similar! Most of my experience is with knits and plus. I’ve found freelance wise a lot of what I get hired for is grading or plus patterns.
I used to use Gerber, but it’s so expensive (plus the yearly maintenance fee!?) so I learned Tukatech this year. Tuka is really affordable and subscription based, so if I’m not working for some reason I can always turn it off.
Gerber actually has had a series of subscriptions since 2019, it is much more affordable than purchasing it outright, and overall costs about $1,000 per year more than their yearly maintenance fee. I looked into Tuka but can’t remember what the cost was for that. I used PAD for the first year which is also pretty affordable and fairly easy to learn.
Yeah, in the past I learned Browzwear and then had the opportunity to be part of the beta testing for Gerber 3D module before they released it. Lately I’ve been learning CLO which seems much more user friendly.
Have you tried any 3D?
Interesting! The thing with Gerber is they are constantly changing their selling techniques, I feel like buying Gerber is like buying a car and there’s no set price or deal and it’s always moving around. I actually spoke with someone about a year ago about purchasing it, I had a contract and everything. They did offer a “subscription” but it was $500/month you had to commit to 1 year, you had to pay in full per year ($6k per year) and then you would never own it.
the offer to buy it outright for me was about 10K + 1.5K per year maintenance fee. I tried to make it work and then some car maintenance got in the way so I cancelled the deal.
I actually got kind of upset about the outrageous price. Salaries are going down while cost of living is going up and they want independent contractors to pay that? that’s insane. So I went on strike and started using Tuka
Tuka has different levels, it’s all subscription, the most expensive is $500/month and the least is $100. I mostly love that I can turn it on and off as needed and never have to worry about investing tons of money into software that I might need to upgrade at some point. I’ve been using the most expensive version (since I work with someone who wants me to use a particular feature) but I am curious if I could get buy on a cheaper version if I don’t need those features.
It took some time to learn but it’s a lot more geared towards using with small, independent people, so it’s perfect for what I’m doing. For instance- You can easily plot on your home printer or to a FedEx. Grading is really simple too, no more grade rules, you just type in numbers.
I also started using CLO this past year. I’m not amazing at it yet, I can do some basic things, but I’d love to make more polished looking garments. It did take an investment to upgrade my computer so I could use CLO, but totally worth it, it’s a great program.
I have not heard of PAD, what is that?
Do we think Gerber will improve on their pricing now that it’s owned by Lectra?
PAD sounds really similar to your description of Tuka. It is template-based and the grading sounds like it is applied the same way as Tuka. Pick a point, tell it the coordinates and there it is. One huge difference is that everything is turned 90 degrees, so it is the same orientation as it would be if the garment was being worn.
It was more cost effective than Gerber before they started their subscription option, which is the only reason I used it. I was happy go back to Gerber once they had the cloud option though. I’ve been working with it most of the last 15 years, so it is like an extension of my hands.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the Lectra merger. It would be nice if they offered better pricing options, especially for those of us who have to buy it ourselves.
Would anyone on this thread be interested in doing a monthly, patternmaker’s zoom-call? We can still stay anonymous, but it would be great to chat about all of these patternmaking things in person! Let me know or send me a DM, I’ll set something up.
